


good kid

by aninsidejoke (speakingincode)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship, akiteru is curious about yamaguchi, tsukishima thinks he should mind his business, written for the prompt childhood tkym + akiteru
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:53:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25907635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/speakingincode/pseuds/aninsidejoke
Summary: The first time Akiteru sees Tadashi sitting next to Kei on the couch in their living room, he thinks it’s a mistake.Or: In his last year of elementary school, Kei brings a friend over for the first time. Akiteru bothers him about it.
Relationships: Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 12
Kudos: 229





	good kid

**Author's Note:**

> this was written for [alyu](https://twitter.com/yamatsukkei) almost a year ago. the prompt was childhood tsukkiyama + akiteru!

The first time Akiteru sees Tadashi sitting next to Kei on the couch in their living room, he thinks it’s a mistake, or maybe something like a group project. In retrospect, that reasoning didn’t make much sense, since Kei never brought anyone over for that before, and he doubts he’d have his first group project in sixth grade.

Still, it’s been a while since Akiteru was there, so maybe they changed elementary school. He’s pretty busy. He wouldn’t know.

Anyway, however little sense that explanation makes, it doesn’t really matter, because the one he ends up extracting from Kei after Tadashi finally goes home after sleeping over (and that really happened, Kei let him _stay over_ ) makes even less.

They’re sitting next to each other at the kitchen table, a piece of toast on a plate between them that neither of them is eating, a half-drank glass of orange juice Akiteru is pretty sure Tadashi forgot about after getting overexcited about something else.

(And Akiteru isn’t going to forget that, how excited that kid got over weird things. _Wow, your house is so big! Wow, the dinosaurs in your room are so cool!_ And his personal favorite – You’re _Akiteru? I heard you’re really good at volleyball!_ He would wonder who told him that if he didn’t know exactly who.)

Thinking about that, he grins at Kei then, who squints at him suspiciously, and he says, “He’s a cute kid, isn’t he?”

Instead of replying, Kei turns around and makes a face at Akiteru like he’s dying. Thinking on back of what he said, it probably wasn’t a great choice of words, especially to Kei, but Akiteru has fun when he makes faces like that, so he doesn’t mind.

“You know, you never invited anyone over before,” Akiteru points out, leaning back in his chair, still smiling a little smugly. “Why’d you let him come?”

“Because he wanted to.”

The awful look on Kei’s face is gone now, and his voice is flat, matter-of-fact. Akiteru can’t help the way his eyes widen. “Wait, really? It was that easy?”

“Yeah,” Kei says, wrinkling his eyebrows at Akiteru like he’s the one who said something weird, and then taking Tadashi’s glass and walking towards the sink.

“Eh? Does that mean he’ll be coming over again?” Akiteru says, raising his voice over the running water.

“If he wants to,” Kei says, still talking to Akiteru like everything he’s asking is obvious.

Judging by the way his face was lit up the entire time he was in the house, Akiteru doesn’t doubt for a second that he’s going to ask again. But that’s— it’s so strange, how willingly Kei is going along with what that kid is asking for, how Kei is acting like he’s stupid for assuming he wouldn’t. No matter how cute that kid is. “He’s a nice kid, but— Really? When did you guys meet? You’re that close and didn’t let us meet him until now?”

“You’re being annoying, niichan,” Kei says, and then pointedly ignores him for the rest of the time he’s in the kitchen.

✯

Eventually, Tadashi comes back, and then comes back again, and then again, and by the second month or so, Akiteru’s come to accept that’s he’s become a Tsukishima household fixture.

Akiteru’s never gets to hear the reason Kei’s so fond of him out of his mouth, but he thinks he knows the two of them well enough to figure it out by himself. It’s the same reason he and his mother took to him so easily (the relief they felt at Kei finally making a friend notwithstanding); the way he smiles so widely and how he makes you feel like if you let him get sad, your heart will break, too. It’s funny, because Akiteru always used to get worried he was too cold to his classmates, or even just anyone other than him and his mother, but Tadashi came, and now Akiteru’s seeing him think about his words for the first time instead of just being harsh.

And not just that. It’s cute, the way they go around. When Kei comes home later than usual because Tadashi dragged him out somewhere instead of going straight home, or when Akiteru pops his head into Kei’s room to tell them it’s time for dinner and Tadashi’s sprawled out on his floor playing video games. If Akiteru had a buddy like that, he would like him, too, he thinks. Especially if it was Tadashi.

He’s thinking about this when he’s sitting with Kei on the couch on a rare Saturday when Tadashi’s gone home early – something about his mother being off from work – and he says, “You know, you never told me why you and Tadashi-kun got so close. I know he’s in volleyball club with you, but there must be something else to it, too, right?”

Kei breathes out in exasperation. “It’s Tadashi-kun,” he says simply, even though there’s still a huff in his voice. “You like him too, don’t you? Why do you keep bothering me about this?”

Offended, Akiteru thinks. Like he’s mad that he doesn’t just know. That’s cute. “Eh, I can’t be curious about how my little brother met his best friend?” he asks. Kei doesn’t reply, and Akiteru exhales while he leans back against the couch. “Well, I only brought it up because I was thinking about how happy I am the two of you are friends. He’s a good kid, you know. You should hold onto him.”

Kei turns towards Akiteru then, and his gaze is piercing, a little suspicious, and then he looks away again and says, “I don’t need you to tell me that.”

Huh.

Akiteru looks at Kei then, the little bit of pink in his cheeks, the way he won’t meet his eyes. Just lightly, he laughs, and even though he’s looking away, Akiteru knows he’s annoyed. It really is funny, the way his little brother gets about Tadashi.

“Yeah,” Akiteru replies, unable to keep the teasing lilt from his voice, “I guess you’re right.”

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed it! if you need anything i'm on [twitter](https://twitter.com/jailsgrr).


End file.
